After a flat tire and the most unnecessary 3 hours of my life, I managed to make it to the show right before Strong Intention came on! There were 2 local openers, Black September and someone else. I don't know either, so someone's gonna have to say how they were because I can't.

Anyway, Strong Intention were killer! Crazy grindcore/powerviolence! They have Sparky from Misery Index on bass which makes them all the better. I don't know their set list but I'm almost positive they did a Weekend Nachos cover. They tried getting people to stage dive, but I don't think they were aware that at Reggies, you're out in an instant if you even attempt to do that.

Goatwhore were next and as usual, they owned. It really never gets old seeing them. They played a lot from the new album which was fine by me. I bought it after the show and it is indeed awesome! People were going crazy to the older songs which was no surprise. Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult, Carving Out the Eyes of God, Invert the Virgin and of course Apocalyptic Havoc got crazy responses.

Oh, and if you didn't hear already, Goatwhore basically confirmed not only that they are on the Hate Eternal Chicago show, but are on Summer Slaughter this year as well.

Goatwhore set:

Collapse In Eternal Worth
Provoking the Ritual of Death
The Black Art of Deception
In Deathless Tradition
Carving Out the Eyes of God
Sky Inferno
Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
When Steel and Bone Meet
Judgement of the Bleeding Crown
Invert the Virgin
An End to Nothing
Apocalyptic Havoc

It was finally time for Lock Up! I was disappointed that they dropped MDF last year at the last second, but I talked to Tomas Lindberg when I got there (very nice guy, got my Slaughter of the Soul booklet signed as well!) and he said it sucked because they got their visas the day after they were supposed to play. But that was the reason why they were doing this short North American run! Anyway, Lock Up fucking killed it. Fast and heavy from beginning to end. Tomas always interacted with the crowd and looked happy as hell to be in Chicago. The Terrorizer and Dark Angel covers were awesome as well, those probably got the best responses! For those who didn't get Lock Up coming to your town, I do remember reading something saying that if the tour gets good reception they'll be back.... I'm positive that Chicago alone will bring them back to the states!

Exactly. As a band, you've got to have some major stones to try and pull that one off. Kinda like how Pig Destroyer did that cover of "Exhume to Consume" on their split with Isis. You don't even attempt that shit unless you've got some major chops, or else the grindcore fans will fucking eat you for breakfast.

Exactly. As a band, you've got to have some major stones to try and pull that one off. Kinda like how Pig Destroyer did that cover of "Exhume to Consume" on their split with Isis. You don't even attempt that shit unless you've got some major chops, or else the grindcore fans will fucking eat you for breakfast.

Jesse Pintado used to be in Lock Up so they've been doing those 2 songs as a tribute to him since he died.

Got there right as Black September got on, one of the local openers. Met up with Daimonos as they were playing. They were pretty solid, typical Black Metal, very Watain-ish. I didn't think they were bad, but they got slightly boring after a few since all the music sounded the same.

It was the first time I've been to Reggie's and it was very, very cold inside. I ended up actually wearing my winter coat the whole time, through all the circle pits. Saw Metallicbrian and met up with Garagemetal right as Strong Intention came on. Glad you made it out, man! Strong Intention were really, really good powerviolence/grindy-hardcore, really fun live. The singer/guitarist was really old and pretty fat, but was way, way into it, and got the crowd going. Really awesome! Bassist had sweet facial hair, too. The circle pits started for them, and didn't let up the whole night.

Goatwhore came up next, and were freakin' awesome. My first time seeing them. Pretty much headbanged violently the whole time. New shit sounded really, really good live, too! My favorite band of the night. Carving Out the Eyes of God, Invert the Virgin and Apocalyptic Havok were just insane with how many people we got circle pitting. Their singer is an awesome frontman, too. Always moving around and getting the crowd into it. They left a great impression on me. Played for almost a full hour, too.

Lock Up were pretty good, and really fun live. Tomas seemed really happy to be there, just had a smile on his face the whole time. Not much more to say; just really cool live. It personally felt like a long time, over an hour of grind, but worth it. Glad I came out to hang with y'all.